Hands On: Nemo Apollo Bikepacking Tent

Bikepacking is an amazing way for adventure seekers to get outside on bikes for an extended period of time. Bikepacking can also be pretty terrible, especially if your sleeping accommodations are less than optimal. Heavy, difficult to set up tents are the bain of bikepackers existence. More weight on the bike means less fun, and a struggling set-up is just insult to injury.

Nemo’s $250 Apollo tents is a minimalist approach to sleeping accommodations—it’s essentially a very elegant tarp. While this might sound a little bush-league, this method of such a shelter design is far from uncommon, and Nemo has produced a refined design that offers protection from the elements without the weight or hassle of a full tent. You might have to watch out for ant hills (the 56-square feet of space inside doesn’t include a bottom) and in rainy weather be sure to keep an eye on drainage issues (there’s nothing worse than a wet sleeping bag), but if you’re smart about it, the Apollo might just be your ticket to freedom. In this week’s “Hands On,” we went through of motions of setting up the Apollo to get a sense of whether or not it’s really as easy as it looks.